Happenings in Tennessee

These materials were featured in the display cases when Dear Governor was on exhibit in the Library & Archives' lobby.

Coal Creek Wars

<a href="https://tsla.tnsosfiles.com/digital/teva/transcripts/53736.pdf">Click here</a href> to read the full transcription.

Telegram to Governor Peter Turney from State Adjutant General John A. Fite, 1893. GP 30: Governor Peter Turney Papers, 1893-1897, ID: 53736

During the early 1890s, mine owners in Anderson County and the surrounding area began leasing convict laborers from local prisons to work in the mines. As miners lost their jobs, they launched armed protests known as the Coal Creek Wars. They freed convict laborers, destroyed mine properties, and clashed with Tennessee militiamen. In 1893, State Adjutant General Fite wrote to Governor Peter Turney regarding a miners’ raid in Tracy City that resulted in one guard’s death. He reported, "Everything calm and serene[.] No more trouble expected. Will enter upon investigation at once[.]”

Coal Creek Miners, 1893. Library Collection, Souvenir of Company C, First Regiment, NGST, 1893, ID: 42106

U.S.S. Tennessee

The U.S.S. Tennessee, a dreadnought battleship, was launched from the New York Naval Shipyard in 1919. Acting Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt invited Governor Albert H. Roberts to nominate “a sponsor to christen the vessel.” The governor’s daughter Helen Roberts served as the sponsor and broke a bottle of champagne over the ship’s bow to officially launch the ship. Newspapers described the U.S.S. Tennessee as “the Navy’s biggest and most powerful dreadnought.” It was also the only ship in the U.S. Navy to be manned exclusively by sailors from a single state.

Letter to Governor Albert H. Roberts from Acting Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1919. GP 38: Governor Albert Houston Roberts Papers, 1919-1921, ID: 53786

Left: The Tennessee Tar, 1920. GP 38: Governor Albert Houston Roberts Papers, 1919-1921, ID: 53785

Right: U.S.S. Tennessee, undated. Library Photograph Collection, ID: 29246

Memphis-to-Bristol Highway

In 1915, the newly established Tennessee State Highway Department declared the 500-mile Memphis-to-Bristol Highway as State Route 1. It was the main east-west route for Tennesseans until Interstate 40 was completed in the late 1960s. In this letter, Ernest Rice of Dyersburg asks Governor Austin Peay to consider including Milan as a stopping point on the highway.

Left: Letter to Governor Austin Peay from Ernest Rice of Dyersburg, 1923. GP 40: Governor Austin Peay Papers, 1923-1927, ID: 53787.

Below: Map of the Route of the Memphis-Nashville-Bristol Highway, 1911. TSLA Map Collection, ID: 33065
<img src="https://teva.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/iiif/p15138coll23/53/full/full/0/default.jpg" alt="Memphis-to-Bristol Highway map" height="auto" width="700" hspace="5" vspace="5" align="center">

Artist Dean Cornwell & his WPA Mural

As part of the New Deal, federal programs like the Works Project Administration (WPA) funded artists to create murals in public buildings. In Nashville, Dean Cornwell painted murals for the Davidson County Courthouse and the John Sevier Building. In this letter, Cornwell thanks Governor Prentice Cooper for his “generous cooperation and help in producing one of my finest sets of murals.”

Right: Letter to Governor Prentice Cooper from artist Dean Cornwell, 1941. GP 44: Governor Prentice Cooper Papers, 1939-1945, ID: 53443. <a href="https://tsla.tnsosfiles.com/digital/teva/transcripts/53443.pdf">Click here</a href> to read the full transcription.

Below: Artist Dean Cornwell with his mural Discovery in the John Sevier Building, 1941. RG 82: Tennessee Department of Conservation Photograph Collection, 1937-1976, ID: 19092

Sunday Moving Pictures Debate

Between the 1910s and 1950s, citizens across the country debated whether movies or “moving pictures” should be allowed to play on Sundays. After Tennessee declared Sunday movies illegal in 1923, the topic was periodically brought before the state legislature. In 1931, a Nashville woman asked Governor Henry Horton to “use your influence against the opening of Sunday moving pictures in our city.” In 1939, the state legislature passed a bill that allowed city councils to decide whether or not to permit Sunday movies by a majority vote.

Left: Letter to Governor Henry Horton from Juliana Fisher Joscelyn of Nashville expressing her opposition to the Sunday Moving Pictures Bill, 1931. GP 41: Governor Henry Hollis Horton Papers, 1927-1933, ID: 53788. <a href="https://tsla.tnsosfiles.com/digital/teva/transcripts/53788.pdf">Click here</a href> to read the full transcription.

Below: Woodland Theater in Nashville, 1925. Library Photograph Collection, ID: 3785, ID: 19092

Telegram to Governor Peter Turney from State Adjutant General John A. Fite, 1893, page 1

Telegram to Governor Peter Turney from State Adjutant General John A. Fite, 1893, page 2

Coal Creek Miners, 1893

The Tennessee Tar, 1920

USS Tennessee, undated

Letter to Governor Albert H. Roberts from Acting Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1919

Letter to Governor Austin Peay from Ernest Rice of Dyersburg, 1923

Map of the Route of the Memphis-Nashville-Bristol Highway, 1911

Letter to Governor Prentice Cooper from artist Dean Cornwell, 1941

Artist Dean Cornwell with his mural Discovery in the John Sevier Building, 1941

Letter to Governor Henry Horton from Juliana Fisher Joscelyn of Nashville expressing her opposition to the Sunday Moving Pictures Bill, 1931

Woodland Theater in Nashville

Back

<p align="center"><strong>Happenings in Tennessee</p></strong>

<strong><p align="center"><i>Coal Creek Wars</strong></p></i>

<strong><p align="center">U.S.S.<i> Tennessee</strong></p></i>

<strong><p align="center"><i>Memphis-to-Bristol Highway</strong></p></i>

<br>

<strong><p align="center"><i>Artist Dean Cornwell & his WPA Mural</strong></p></i>

<strong><p align="center"><i>Sunday Moving Pictures Debate</strong></p></i>